63	GUJAR&TA AND ITS LITERATURE
Among the latter day poets, he mentions Magha,
Bharavi, Bana, Dhanapala, Bilhana, Hemacandra,
Nilakantha, Pralhadana, Naracandra, Vijayasena, Subhata,
Yashahavlra and Vastupala, the last six of whom were his
contemporaries,
The poet describes the city of Patana 'the house of
Sri '; its fort and its gardens where damsels come to play ;
the chants of its Brahmanas, the songs of its women, the
eulogies of its bards ; its houses which were white like
snow, its palaces in which luxury reigned ; and the sacri-
ficial smoke which, like Yamuna, rose skywards to join
the heavenly Ganga. The city outshines all the cities of
traditional fame. The poet then describes the river, the
temples comparable to the Himalaya, the banners of the
temples * so high as to protect even Aruna, the Sun's
charioteer, from his master's fiery rays'; the roads crowded
with elephants and horses. The women also come in for
their share of praise.
Wherever the women move, undulating with grace, the eyes of the
gallants follow like their maid servants. Those who are looked at by the
women with sidelong glances, are smitten by the god of love, who, though
bodiless, assumes a body. Here, Brahma created women of matchless
beauty ; and yet their beauty was matched by its reflection in die bejewelled
walls.1
, In canto ii, the poet gives a short history of the kings
of Patana, beginning with Mularaja. Siddharaja is rightly
given the central place. Lavanaprasada's dream is then
described. Gurjara Rajyalakshmi, the royal dignity of
Gujarata, appears to him, ' a goddess in the very image
of a full-moon night, her face white like the moon, a white
mark on her face, in white clothes, a white garland in
her hand'. She laments the downfall of Patana, weeps
over her vanished glory and departed heroes.
srffcnwrt ^strit ^c^fM^s \\   i. es, 69, to.